[6] In 1949, Jordan annexed the West Bank,[6] which angered Arab countries including Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

In their Revolt and their Awakening, Arabs never incited sedition or acted out of greed, but called for justice, liberty and national sovereignty.

In 1910, Abdullah persuaded his father to stand, successfully, for Grand Sharif of Mecca, a post for which Hussein acquired British support.

[10] In 1914, Abdullah paid a clandestine visit to Cairo to meet Lord Kitchener, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for War, to seek British support for his father's ambitions in Arabia.

[13] In early 1917, Abdullah ambushed an Ottoman convoy in the desert, and captured £20,000 worth of gold coins that were intended to bribe the Bedouin into loyalty to the Sultan.

[14] In August 1917, Abdullah worked closely with the French Captain Muhammand Ould Ali Raho in sabotaging the Hejaz Railway.

[citation needed] Abdullah set about the task of building Transjordan with the help of a reserve force headed by Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Peake, who was seconded from the Palestine police in 1921.

[10] During World War II, Abdullah was a faithful British ally, maintaining strict order within Transjordan, and helping to suppress a pro-Axis uprising in Iraq.

Future Israeli prime minister Golda Meir was among the delegates to these meetings that came to a mutually agreed upon partition plan independently of the United Nations in November 1947.

With very minor exceptions, Jews have lived for many centuries in the Middle East, in complete peace and friendliness with their Arab neighbours.

[28] On 4 May 1948, Abdullah, as a part of the effort to seize as much of Palestine as possible, sent in the Arab Legion to attack the Israeli settlements in the Etzion Bloc.

"[29] Depressed by the unavoidable war that would come between Jordan and the Yishuv, one Jewish Agency representative wrote, "[Abdullah] will not remain faithful to the 29 November [UN Partition] borders, but [he] will not attempt to conquer all of our state [either].

He used the military intervention to restore his prestige in the Arab world, which had grown suspicious of his relatively good relationship with Western and Jewish leaders.

[29][31] Abdullah was especially anxious to take Jerusalem as compensation for the loss of the guardianship of Mecca, which had traditionally been held by the Hashemites until Ibn Saud seized the Hejaz in 1925.

[citation needed] According to Abdullah el-Tell it was the King's personal intervention that led to the Arab Legion entering the Old City against Glubb's wishes.

Abdullah, who was accompanied by his grandson Prince Hussein, was shot during Friday prayers, with three fatal bullets hitting his head and chest.

The assassination was attributed to a secret group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, with political ties to the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

[citation needed] In 1904, Abdullah married his first wife, Sharifa Musbah bint Nasser (1884 – 15 March 1961), at Stinia Palace, İstinye, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire.